It was another busy weekend around the MLB, with many exciting games between major teams. Here are the biggest storylines from the weekend that was.
Baseball’s baba yaga lurks in the shadows, far enough to hide yet close enough to pounce. This Astros team is quite flawed, much more porous than its predecessors, but only a fool would expect them to quietly fade away. A five-game winning streak, including a decisive weekend sweep of the impressive Orioles, has moved Houston within four games of an AL wild-card spot with more than half the season still to play.
Longtime stalwarts José Altuve and Alex Bregman had big weekends against the Orioles, who looked haggard, especially on the mound, after a thrilling win last week in The Bronx. Houston still has starting pitching questions — right-hander Jake Bloss struggled in his MLB debut on Friday and then went on the IL — but good starts from Framber Valdez and Ronel Blanco on Saturday and Sunday were encouraging. Overall, it was a monumental win for Houston, which welcomes Colorado to town on Tuesday for a quick two-game set.
The Cardinals defeat the Giants
The Cardinals, with their victory over the Giants, continued their methodical climb out of the mire of National League mediocrity. After beating San Francisco on an emotional night at Rickwood Field on Thursday, the Birds played both weekend games at Busch Stadium. On Saturday, outfielder Alec Burleson ripped a pair of home runs, giving him seven in June (only three NL players have more this month), souring Jordan Hicks’ return to St. Louis. Then Cards ace and big free-agent acquisition Sonny Gray moved aside on Sunday, allowing just one run over seven frames to lower his season ERA to 2.81.
On opening day, FanGraphs pegged the Cards’ playoff chances at 50.1%. That number dropped to 10.4% on May 11 after a bad April, but St. Louis has rebounded, thanks to impressive stretches from Gray, Burleson and shortstop Masyn Winn. The Cards are now 1.5 games safe in a wildcard spot, with relatively solid playoff odds of 42.6%. NL is a gruesome mud fight, but at least the Cardinals are in it, unlike the Giants, who are slowly sliding further and further away from contention.
Predictably great starts from Atlanta’s lefty aces, Chris Sale and Max Fried, lifted the Braves to a series victory in The Bronx. Each left-hander limited the Yankees to one run, with Sale doing the deed in the opener on Friday and Fried shutting out the Bombers on Sunday. Those two have been great all year, but a new and absolutely crucial development for the Braves is the resurgence of Austin Riley. Atlanta’s two-time All-Star third baseman missed a stretch in mid-May with a rib muscle issue and then looked terrible upon his return. But Riley has eight extra-base hits in his past nine games, including a timely big fly in Atlanta’s win on Friday.
The Yankees, meanwhile, are dealing with another injury, albeit an expected one. Giancarlo Stanton strained his hamstring while running the bases Saturday, putting him on the 10-day IL. The hulking outfielder, who has battled lower-body ailments in recent seasons, has run noticeably casually so far this year, presumably on club orders to reduce the risk of another injury. Still, his IL journey felt like an inevitable development. But for all the jokes about his lumbering gait, Stanton was in the midst of his most productive season since 2021, on pace for 35 home runs. The Yankees will look to replace his offense with a combination of outfielder Trent Grisham, rookie call-up first baseman Ben Rice and recently acquired third baseman J.D. Davis.
The Guardians sweep the Blue Jays
Steven Kwan is an absolute delight. Cleveland’s left fielder had four more hits this weekend, including two home runs, raising his season OPS to 1.023. Only Aaron Judge (1.117) and Shohei Ohtani (1.031) have a higher OPS among hitters with at least 200 plate appearances (Kwan does not yet have enough plate appearances to qualify as he missed some time due to an injury). He catalyzes an offense that, after two years in a row in the bottom two of home runs in the entire league, has rediscovered the long ball. Cleveland smoked six home runs against Toronto, giving Guardians 87 this year, and finishing tied for ninth in the MLB. They are looking more realistic by the week and now have a solid 7.5 game lead over the Twins.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have won just three non-White Sox series since the beginning of May. They’re not very good. Big offseason signing Yariel Rodríguez returned from the IL and threw a stinker on Friday, allowing four earned runs in just 1 1/3 innings of work. José Berrios followed that with one of his worst starts of the season (3 HR allowed) on Saturday before Yusei Kikuchi surrendered four runs in two innings before a rain delay knocked him out on Sunday. To make matters worse, highly touted rookie Orelvis Martinez, who made his MLB debut on Friday, was handed an 80-game suspension on Sunday after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Toronto is running out of runway to turn things around before the trade deadline; this could get ugly.
Ohtani and the Dodgers take two from the Angels
Shohei Ohtani homered for the first time against his former team and homered twice, because duh. After six postseason-less years with the Angels, the two-way dynamo joined the big Dodgers for a ton of money. But Game 1 of this series must have given Ohtani some unsavory flashbacks: the two-time MVP launched a 450-foot mega tank, but the Dodgers still lost. Such was life for Ohtani in Angels Land, with majestic performances tempered by mediocrity in the rankings.
But these Dodgers are not those angels, and baseball’s most formidable roster bounced back to win in a bizarre two-game weekend between these SoCal rivals on Saturday. Ohtani went to the Garden again in the final to support another masterful start from Tyler Glasnow (10 Ks, 1 ER in 7 IP).
Scherzer trades in his return to the mound
The 39-year-old Rangers pitcher made his first start of the year after offseason surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back required a lengthy IL stint. Scherzer was outstanding in his return, retiring the first 13 batters en route to five scoreless frames as Texas swept the Royals at home. The defending champions have been underwhelming so far this season and desperately need Scherzer to strengthen and energize their pitching staff. So far, so good.
Bonus: Men’s College World Series
A winner-take-all Game 3 of the Men’s College World Series is scheduled for Monday after Texas A&M and Tennessee split the first two games of the weekend. The Aggies struck early Saturday, as freshman Gavin Grahovac launched an opposite-field blast to start the game. A&M led 7-2 after three and leaned on star reliever Evan Aschenbeck to win the opener 9-5 after Tennessee fought back late.
With their season on the line Sunday, the No. 1 Volunteers back in Game 2 despite trailing for most of the afternoon. Trailing 1-0 with a runner on and two outs in the seventh, junior outfielder Dylan Dreiling hit for a two-run lead. Catcher Cal Stark added another two-run mash in the eighth to give Tennessee some breathing room in a 4-1 victory. Monday’s game is for all marbles, with two storied programs each looking for their first National Championship.
